Cartridges of the World
Encyclopedia
Cartridges of the World is a comprehensive guide to firearm cartridges. The reference series (in its 12th edition as of 2009) is a very popular work used by firearms and cartridge enthusiasts.
The book contains separate sections dealing with cartridge nomenclature, wildcat cartridges
, handgun
cartridges, military cartridges (of the United States
and the world), sporting cartridges, shotgun
shells as well as information on obsolete ammunition.
The series of books has often been criticised for not including dimensioned drawings of cartridges and for placing some cartridges into unusual categories (for example, the 11th edition of the book places the .303 British
round inside the section of American Military Cartridges.)
The book contains separate sections dealing with cartridge nomenclature, wildcat cartridges
Wildcat cartridge
A wildcat cartridge, or wildcat, is a custom cartridge for which ammunition and firearms are not mass produced. These cartridges are often created in order to optimize a certain performance characteristic of an existing commercial cartridge.Developing and using wildcat cartridges does not...
, handgun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
cartridges, military cartridges (of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the world), sporting cartridges, shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
shells as well as information on obsolete ammunition.
The series of books has often been criticised for not including dimensioned drawings of cartridges and for placing some cartridges into unusual categories (for example, the 11th edition of the book places the .303 British
.303 British
.303 British, or 7.7x56mmR, is a .311 inch calibre rifle and machine gun cartridge first developed in Britain as a blackpowder round put into service in December 1888 for the Lee-Metford rifle, later adapted to use smokeless powders...
round inside the section of American Military Cartridges.)